JMJ. I was talking to a couple of my co-workers lately concerning abortion. One is a purported Catholic, the other--well, maybe a "seeker" is the best term. Neither one would coutenance abortion. Oh, wait... unless the mother had been raped or the victim of incest.
Now, I can understand a non-Catholic hesitating on this seemingly thorny situation. Really, I can. No, I don't for a minute agree, but I can understand because these exceptions have a really visceral effect on each and every one of us. They bring up in our minds visions of absolute moral perversion--as well they should. At the time, though, I couldn't quite verbalise WHY they were both wrong.
Now I can. I believe that Someone of heaven was speaking to me and supplied me with an answer, and a definitive answer to boot! (One of the major problems with Catholicism is that one doesn't know WHO is talking to you. It could be One or more of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Mother, or one of the angels or saints. This is a real quandary for a former Protestant!)
Nowhere, to the best of my knowledge, in the U.S. is either rape or incest punished by the death penalty. Those who are TRULY pro-life will say that even the death penalty itself should be abolished. (That's another topic.) OK, if we are not going to punish the criminal with the death penalty, why in heaven's name should we punish the innocent issue of the crime? We wouldn't put the woman to death for being raped, would we?
I had this conversation with my Mother several years ago before her death and didn't have this answer at hand. She has since died and now knows the truth of my stance. Would that others did, too.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Autumn
JMJ. I have a hard time imagining what it must be like to be an atheist. At one time or another I have been a deist, a Buddhist, a Baha'i, a Protestant, and even thought of becoming a Jew. Thanks be to God, I became a Catholic. I look out our office window and see the burning bush turned red, the huge, 100 year-old oak tree turning brown,and can hear the band of Baldwin-Wallace College playing in the near distance. How can anyone deny the existence of God in the midst of this order and this beauty?
Friday, October 16, 2009
The Priesthood of all Believers
JMJ. My friend Charlie is a caution. That's a Southron phrase that means he is so very special. He and I get together for breakfast as often as God allows, mainly for my edification. I value his insights so much! He has been where I am and has survived in spite of it all. It happened most recently this last Thursday.
He always says somthing that causes me to think. This time it had to do with the priesthood of all believers. Now, being a convert to the Church, I accept all that she has to teach. One thing that is so very important is that one attend Mass every Sunday and on Holy Days of Obligation. I accept that and have always done so. But without asking the why.
Romans 12, verse one says that we should bodily present ourselves, sacrificing our time, in worship of Him. This succinctly answers those who say, "Oh, I can worship wherever I am. I don't have to do it in church." Baloney! He spent three hours on the cross on our behalf, it only stands to reason that we can turn off the tube, get out of bed, and travel to where He resides, for one small hour, awaiting our presence.
But what Charlie was saying was so far beyond this. Christ calls us to the priesthood of all believers, perhaps not sacramentally as He does those who take Holy Orders, but to offer ourselves, our prayers, our intercessions, and our sacrifices to Him in conjuction with the priest who presides at the altar. This knocked my socks off! Wow!
It's almost as if we are co-celebrants at the Mass (though NOT sacramentally.) All of our cares, our weaknesses, our prayers, our small sufferings are being lain on the altar just as the water, wine, and bread are! In one swell foop we are transformed from observers to celebrants. This is one of the most amazing things I've had to think about in ages. Thanks, Charlie. God bless you.
He always says somthing that causes me to think. This time it had to do with the priesthood of all believers. Now, being a convert to the Church, I accept all that she has to teach. One thing that is so very important is that one attend Mass every Sunday and on Holy Days of Obligation. I accept that and have always done so. But without asking the why.
Romans 12, verse one says that we should bodily present ourselves, sacrificing our time, in worship of Him. This succinctly answers those who say, "Oh, I can worship wherever I am. I don't have to do it in church." Baloney! He spent three hours on the cross on our behalf, it only stands to reason that we can turn off the tube, get out of bed, and travel to where He resides, for one small hour, awaiting our presence.
But what Charlie was saying was so far beyond this. Christ calls us to the priesthood of all believers, perhaps not sacramentally as He does those who take Holy Orders, but to offer ourselves, our prayers, our intercessions, and our sacrifices to Him in conjuction with the priest who presides at the altar. This knocked my socks off! Wow!
It's almost as if we are co-celebrants at the Mass (though NOT sacramentally.) All of our cares, our weaknesses, our prayers, our small sufferings are being lain on the altar just as the water, wine, and bread are! In one swell foop we are transformed from observers to celebrants. This is one of the most amazing things I've had to think about in ages. Thanks, Charlie. God bless you.
On Priests
JMJ. This is the Year of the Priest, as proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI.
I try to have as much to do with priests as possible. After all, the sacrifice they make in answering Christ's vocation is an awesome one. Jesus has set them apart, made them holy, and has given them His own powers of life and death.
It was recently the ninty-second anniversary of the final apparition of Our Lady of Fatima to the three peasant children in Fatima, Portugal. In passing a priest of my acquaintance at work on October twelfth I said, "Happy day before Fatima, Father." Imagine my surprise when he (a middle-aged man) answered that he didn't pay any attention to such things!
Not pay attention to a church-approved appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a fashion truly miraculous? Let me see--the earth in Fatima that day was completely sodden from several days of constant rain. Some 70,000 people had assembled at the site to witness Our Lady's final appearance. The sun was seen to break through the clouds, descend from the heavens, to spin wildly, and to throw off many-coloured arms of light.
At the same time, the earth completely dried up. Physicists have calculated that for that much water to completley disappear instantaneously would require the energy of an atomic weapon. The antics of the sun were witnessed over an area of 50 square miles. Although Our Lady appeared only to the three peasant children, it was witnessed by all that they were obviously conversing with someone unseen. Many Masons, atheists, and communists assembled there hoping to debunk this miracle were converted that day.
And a consecrated priest of Jesus Christ doesn't pay any attention to that sort of thing? In addition to celebrating our priests we must pray for them. We owe it to them.
I try to have as much to do with priests as possible. After all, the sacrifice they make in answering Christ's vocation is an awesome one. Jesus has set them apart, made them holy, and has given them His own powers of life and death.
It was recently the ninty-second anniversary of the final apparition of Our Lady of Fatima to the three peasant children in Fatima, Portugal. In passing a priest of my acquaintance at work on October twelfth I said, "Happy day before Fatima, Father." Imagine my surprise when he (a middle-aged man) answered that he didn't pay any attention to such things!
Not pay attention to a church-approved appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a fashion truly miraculous? Let me see--the earth in Fatima that day was completely sodden from several days of constant rain. Some 70,000 people had assembled at the site to witness Our Lady's final appearance. The sun was seen to break through the clouds, descend from the heavens, to spin wildly, and to throw off many-coloured arms of light.
At the same time, the earth completely dried up. Physicists have calculated that for that much water to completley disappear instantaneously would require the energy of an atomic weapon. The antics of the sun were witnessed over an area of 50 square miles. Although Our Lady appeared only to the three peasant children, it was witnessed by all that they were obviously conversing with someone unseen. Many Masons, atheists, and communists assembled there hoping to debunk this miracle were converted that day.
And a consecrated priest of Jesus Christ doesn't pay any attention to that sort of thing? In addition to celebrating our priests we must pray for them. We owe it to them.
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